The present invention relates to furniture and displays in general, and to displays which are speedily assembled and knocked down in particular.
For many products and services it is desirable to market selectively to potential customers having either a special interest or sufficient resources to be a possible purchaser. One technique for obtaining sales leads is to collect information in a targeted geographic area. For example, a provider of Caribbean cruises might solicit addresses of potential customers in northern regions in the winter months. The best and most accurate source of customer name, address, and phone number information is the potential customer. Various promotional activities can be employed to obtain this information voluntarily, for example by providing free samples or offering a free chance to win a prize. Usually the information is solicited by positioning collection boxes or kiosks in the targeted geographic region, for example within shopping malls.
Because a particular marketing venture may require the speedy collection of information, and may be of limited duration, the information collection kiosks are usually temporary structures, and are not built into the shopping mall environment. Furthermore, because of the potential value of the collected consumer information, the completed entry blanks may be a target of theft. Therefore, the collection kiosks must have at least a limited level of security. However, because the cost of collecting the information has a significant labor component, it is desirable to minimize as much as possible the time required to assemble, empty, and disassemble the collection kiosks. Moreover, the kiosks are preferably constructed of low-cost yet sturdy materials.
To promote consumer interest in the collection activity, it is desirable to provide transparent walls to the collection box, thereby allowing a potential contest entrant to make a determination of how popular the contest is. Some collection kiosks have required significant disassembly to collect the completed entry blanks.
What is needed is an information collection kiosk which is economically produced, rapidly assembled and disassembled, and, while easily accessed for removal of entry blanks, provides a level of security against theft.